Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services.

Designer Diapers Don't Pass the Smell Test

Procter & Gamble should just dispose of this fashion statement for the maternity ward.

Many of us roll our eyes at the thought of spending hundreds of dollars on a pair of designer jeans, even as we invest in True Religion Apparel(Nasdaq: TRLG) and Joe's Jeans(Nasdaq: JOEZ), recognizing that millions of shoppers do just that.

And while more frugal parents might bemoan the fact that even at Wal-Mart(NYSE: WMT) it's difficult to avoid running into designer duds for our kids from the likes of Miley Cyrus or Max Azria, how many are ready for the next leap in fashion style: designer diapers!

Procter & Gamble(NYSE: PG) has signed on designer Cynthia Rowley to come up with premium butt huggers under its Pampers brand. And true to form, they'll carry a premium price tag, too, selling for about $6 more than regular disposable tighty whities. The diapers will be sold through Target(NYSE: TGT), which has carried designer clothes from Isaac Mizrahi in the past, but more currently features Jean Paul Gaultier, Mossimo, and Liz Lange. Rowley's diapers will feature pastels, ruffles, and stripes.

This isn't the first move by diaper makers to carry the designer trend to the pre-toddler set. Kimberly Clark(NYSE: KMB) introduced denim Huggies last month, whose tag line says, "the coolest you'll look pooping your pants." It doesn't sound too far actually from the Saturday Night Live skit about Huggies Thongs. And one company recently came out with high-heeled shoes for babies up to six months old.

Cultural warriors have long lamented the forcing of adulthood onto kids, and it seems with designer diapers we've gone about as far as possible -- though who knows, maybe geneticists will offer us designer embryos in the near future. We can already choose our baby's sex, and we're almost at the point of preselecting babies' traits.

Abercrombie & Fitch(NYSE: ANF) is just one of many retailers who try to grab preteen consumers early and hopefully convert them to a customer throughout their young adult life. Abercrombie and Hollister were more successful at snaring preteen and teen shoppers than its Ruehl concept was at bringing in adults, but it's a pernicious trend nonetheless. This latest literal cradle-to-grave conditioning to opt for designer duds smells just as bad as a dirty diaper and needs to be disposed of, even if P&G is able to plump margins because of it.

Author

Rich has been a Fool since 1998 and writing for the site since 2004. After 20 years of patrolling the mean streets of suburbia, he hung up his badge and gun to take up a pen full time.

Having made the streets safe for Truth, Justice and Krispy Kreme donuts, he now patrols the markets looking for companies he can lock up as long-term holdings in a portfolio. So follow him on Facebook and Twitter for the most important industry news in retail and consumer products and other great stories.